All language subtitles for Ancient.Aliens.S03E15.1080p.HULU.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-playWEB_track3_[eng]

>> NARRATOR: Superhuman

strength...

Supernatural powers...

And the awesome ability to fly.

Throughout history, mankind has

told incredible tales of gods

and superheroes.

But do we yearn to possess these

extraordinary powers for

another, more profound, reason?

>> WILLIAM HENRY: Implanted

within our DNA is this desire to

become god‐like, to fly in the

air, or swim through the ocean

or especially to ascend into the

stars.

>> ERICH VON DANIKEN: Humans

were created according to the

image of God.

So we are part of them.

If the so‐called gods had

incredible powers, we have them

in us, too.

>> NARRATOR: Could ancient

stories of god‐like kings and

heroes really have otherworldly

origins?

>> JASON MARTELL: Many of the

sacred powers given to kings of

the past we know today were more

than likely technology that

ancient man was given from the

actual gods, which we know were

probably extraterrestrials.

>> NARRATOR: Millions of people

around the world believe we have

been visited in the past by

extraterrestrial beings.

What if it were true?

Did ancient aliens really help

to shape our history?

Does it help to explain our

continuing fascination with

stories of gods and heroes?

>> NARRATOR: Greece.

The Island of Crete.

On the Lassithi Plateau, over

half a mile above sea level,

lies the Dikteon Cave.

This sprawling complex of

caverns stretches nearly one and

a half square miles, and

archeological finds have shown a

human presence dating as far

back as 6,000 years ago.

Historians believe the first

inhabitants of the area actually

lived inside the cave, and

according to legend, its many

chambers were once home to an

otherworldly being, Zeus, the

Greek god of thunder.

In Greek mythology, Zeus is the

son of Cronus, the king of the

first generation of gods known

as the Titans.

>> RICHARD RADER: Zeus's father

Cronus is not particularly

excited about giving birth to a

child because he's heard a

prophecy that one of his

children is going to overthrow

him.

So just as soon as his

children are born, he just

swallows them all down.

Now his mother Rhea, who's

Cronus's wife, is distraught

about this.

So what she does is substitute a

rock that she's

wrapped up in swaddling clothes.

Gives it to Cronus, which he

swallows down.

And what she does is hides Zeus

away in a cave.

So he grows up there.

>> NARRATOR: In Theogony, the

8th‐century BC poet Hesiod

describes the cave Zeus was

hidden in as lying in these very

mountains, and specifically near

the city of Lyktos, the location

of the Dikteon Cave.

But the similarities between

this cave and the cave of Zeus

described in Greek mythology go

much further.

>> PHILIP COPPENS: The ancients

say that when they are talking

about mythology, it is about

unrecorded events of their past.

According to the Greek myths,

the child Zeus was nourished on

a mixture of honey and

milk at the udder of the goat.

Now around 1900 AD, a chamber

of the Dikteon Cave was

identified by locals as

the birthplace of Zeus, and when

archeologists went in

there, they discovered an alter

with the remains of numerous

religious offerings, amongst

them honey and goat milk.

These remains date back 4,000

years, to the exact period in

which the ancient Greek stories

took place.

The question is, is this once

again a coincidence that modern

excavations find remains in

this cave that match up with

what's written in Greek

mythology?

>> NARRATOR: Also found in

the Dikteon Cave were

numerous artifacts dating back

to what would have been the time

of Zeus's childhood according to

the Greek stories.

Among them was a fragmentary

inscription bearing a hymn...

a hymn dedicated specifically to

Zeus.

Could the Dikteon Cave really be

the cave described in Theogony?

And if actual locations from

Greek mythology really do exist,

could legendary characters and

events also be based on

historical fact?

>> COPPENS: We think of

>> NARRATOR: In Greek mythology,

the War of the Titans is a

celestial battle waged by Zeus

and his siblings, known as the

Olympians, against their father

Cronus and the Titans.

The Olympians, who are the

victors in this battle, were the

gods worshipped by the ancient

Greeks.

But according to ancient

astronaut theorists, these

human‐like beings may have been

something other than divine, and

this mythical war may have been

an actual historical event.

To support this claim, they

point to the existence of

similar myths and stories told

by different cultures throughout

the world.

>> COPPENS: When it comes to

warring parties of gods, Greece

is not a stand‐alone issue.

We have the same thing in

Ragmornak.

In Norwegian mythology, we have

this idea that the gods fought

amongst themselves as well.

>> MARTELL: We see this same

story of Titans being overthrown

by a new set of gods in the

Sumerian epics of the Anunnaki

coming here as the original

culture in ancient Iraq.

So these similarities tell of a

warring race of beings that

squabbled amongst themselves

about the rights of various

areas on the Earth.

>> MARTELL: It's very possible

that the Clash of the Titans

known from the Greek times is

actually speaking of a much

earlier epoch of

extraterrestrials having a type

of battle.

>> HENRY: The ancient Greek gods

had helmets that made them

invisible.

They had breastplates that made

them impervious to their

enemies' weapons.

They had tridents that shot

thunderbolts; they had winged

sandals that gave them the power

of flight.

These are all profound examples

of an ancient alien technology

that the Greek gods possessed.

>> NARRATOR: If mythical gods

and monsters really did exist,

were they, as ancient astronaut

theorists believe,

extraterrestrial beings?

And could this help to explain

the enormous and enduring

popularity of gods, Titans and

other so‐called "superheroes"

in today's popular culture?

>> DAN DIDIO: There's so many

different places where the

characters and superheroes come

from, but naturally, so much of

it is drawn from mythology and

from literature, because those

are such strong bodies of work

and so familiar, and they...

they become the archetypes for

all types of heroes.

>> JONATHAN YOUNG: The stories

exist partly because we want to

dream of such powers.

We want to imagine what might be

possible if we had unlimited

dominance.

>> HENRY: Implanted within our

DNA is this desire to become

god‐like, be it to fly in the

air, or swim through the ocean,

or run super fast, or

especially, to ascend into the

stars.

>> NARRATOR: Why are human

beings so drawn to stories about

beings with superior abilities

and technologies?

Are they looking for something

larger and more powerful outside

of themselves?

Or perhaps... within?

In Greek mythology, the Titan

Prometheus is often credited

with creating human beings out

of basic materials found on

Earth.

>> YOUNG: Prometheus was playing

with mud, and made little

figurines out of it.

And Athena was fascinated with

this, and breathed life into

them.

>> RICHARD RADER: The cynical

read is to say, well, what he

wants is somebody to worship

him, like people worship Zeus.

He created us in his image, and

he gave us all these skills,

culture and technology and

medicines, that makes us what

it means to be a human being.

>> HENRY: Zeus realized he

couldn't un‐create these beings,

but what he could do is limit

them in their capabilities and

restrict them in their capacity

and prevent them from becoming

god‐like.

>> DAVID CHILDRESS: It's as if

the extraterrestrials wanted to

keep us from having all the same

technology that they had.

>> NARRATOR: In another version

of the story, Prometheus is said

to have stolen a spark from

Zeus' lightening bolt in order

to give humans the gift of fire.

>> COPPENS: When we are talking

about a god who gives fire to

man, we realize that this is not

the gods, as in the supreme

being, the one.

But clearly somebody else.

An ancient alien.

>> GIORGIO TSOUKALOS: We pursued

throughout history to master the

powers of the gods, but the

question is, where did all those

ideas originate?

And the answer is very simple.

Due to extraterrestrial contact

in our remote past.

>> NARRATOR: Could humans really

be the creation of alien beings

with extraordinary powers?

Do we have a subconscious desire

to reconnect with the so‐called

gods of our past by becoming

more like them through

advancements in technology?

Could this explain the origins

of ancient tales of gods and

heroes who were thought to

possess extraordinary powers?

Perhaps the answer can be found

near the Greek valley of Phocis,

and by examining the legend of

The Oracle at Delphi.

>> NARRATOR: Lydia, 716 B. C.

Gyges, a shepherd in the service

of King Candaules, becomes the

unlikely successor to the throne

of this ancient kingdom in

modern day Turkey.

But the story of how this modest

servant rose from a shepherd to

a king is so fantastic that

many scholars and historians

have dismissed it as mere myth.

>> YOUNG: Gyges is out in the

field, and there is a terrible

earthquake.

(rumbling)

He sees a cave open, goes into

that cave and sees a gold ring.

>> RADER: I mean, he just kind

of walks into, like, this

chamber, which is like a tomb

where he sees a dead body that's

got some jewelry on it.

So he grabs this ring off of it,

because he's a poor man.

He puts the ring on and

discovers that it gives him the

power to be invisible.

>> HENRY: He comes up with a

plan.

The next time he goes to visit

the king, he brings that ring

with him, turns himself

invisible, seduces the queen,

kills the king and takes over

the palace.

>> COPPENS: What we have here

is really a multilayered legend.

We have not only the story of

the fact that somebody in the

past had the cloak of

invisibility, but actually, that

he did not invent this.

But that it was a legacy from a

race who had buried their dead,

and that alongside these dead

were artifacts which were

technological.

>> HENRY: What kind of a magical

amulet or technology are we

talking about here?

Was this the ring of the gods

that's described by the ancient

Sumerians as the ring of cosmic

sovereignty?

>> NARRATOR: According to

legend, a bloody civil war

erupted following the death of

King Candaules.

It ended when Gyges obtained

approval for overthrowing the

throne from the Oracle at

Delphi, a mysterious priestess

whose eerily correct prophecies

were said to come directly from

the Greek god Apollo.

>> BILL BIRNES: The Oracle of

Delphi, whether it's a prophet

or a soothsayer, had a direct

relationship to the

extraterrestrial being.

The extraterrestrial being

communicated through the priest

who would then interpret that

into a language that the

listeners could understand.

>> NARRATOR: But was it really a

god who endorsed Gyges reign, or

was Apollo, the son of Zeus, an

extraterrestrial, as ancient

astronaut theorists contend?

Was it, perhaps, the same

extraterrestrial who led Gyges

to find the ring that enabled

him to seize power in the first

place?

And if so, could this be an

example of aliens endowing a

human with god‐like powers to

carry out some earthly agenda?

>> TSOUKALOS: When I read

stories like Gyges of Lydia,

who has found this ring, which

gave him the capability of

becoming invisible, then there

are two things that I think of.

One‐‐ is it just fantasy?

Or do we have another reference

here that describes

misunderstood technology?

Because today, researchers at

Duke University are trying to

develop an invisibility cloak.

>> NARRATOR: Duke University

engineering professor David R.

Smith is the Director of the

Center for Metamaterial and

Integrated Plasmonics.

For the past decade, Smith and

his team have been working to

create metamaterials, or

artificial materials that are

not found in nature.

Just as a piece of glass can

control the way light bends,

Smith has set out to prove that

certain manmade materials can

actually be constructed to

render objects invisible.

>> DAVID SMITH: This is actually

an example of the metamaterial.

This is a bunch of pieces of

circuit board all cut out and

assembled together.

And on the circuit boards are

little pieces of copper that are

tiny circuits.

And each circuit has a certain

response to electromagnetic

radiation.

And the combination of these

patterns plus the shape gives us

something that we can call an

invisibility cloak.

The idea behind the cloak is

that it renders something inside

of it invisible and itself

invisible, as well.

>> NARRATOR: At present, the

device only makes objects

disappear at microwave

frequencies, but Dr. Smith

believes that soon this

technology will also be able to

make objects invisible to even

the human eye.

>> SMITH: Just in the last year

or two, there have actually

been experiments, showing

certain of the cloaking ideas

transitioning to the visible

spectrum‐‐ red, green, blue.

Those experiments are actually

being done now.

>> LOIS GRESH: We will have

invisibility cloaks at some

point that we could wear as

humans, and I definitely think

we're going to get there because

science and speculative science

go hand in hand.

Science creates a base point,

speculative science pushes it

farther into the future, and

that's how technology advances.

>> NARRATOR: An actual cloak of

invisibility?

Though still in development,

researchers in Japan have

designed an optical camouflage

system that makes special

reflective material seemingly

disappear, including the person

wearing it, thus bringing us

closer to achieving a fully

functional invisibility cloak

like the one described in the

story of Gyges.

Could this mean that other

seemingly far‐fetched devices of

fantasy, like flying carpets and

magic wands, are also based on

science, and if so, might they

have been used in the ancient

past, perhaps in the hands of

extraterrestrial visitors?

>> TSOUKALOS: Just because we

are working on these

technologies today does not mean

that we are the first... because

we find multiple references in

ancient texts that describe

devices with which you were able

to go invisible.

>> DiDIO: So much of our

storytelling deals with the fact

that what we deem to be magic

can really be science at a

different time.

>> NARRATOR: If legendary tales

like the story of King Gyges

could be proven to be real, what

does it suggest about other

fantastic stories of gods and

titans?

Hissarlik, Turkey.

Within this archaeological site

lie the ruins of Troy, a place

once thought by mainstream

scientists to be no more than

myth until Heinrich Schliemann

unearthed its remains in 1871.

Here in the 12th century B. C.,

the ancient Greek city was the

center of the Trojan War, a

Greek battle described in

Homer's Iliad.

According to the epic poem, the

goddess Athena gives King

Diomedes the power of divine

vision during the war so that he

could see like the gods.

>> RADER: Athena comes down and

she wants to help the Greeks, so

she finds Diomedes and she says,

"I'm gonna help you out here.

So what I'm gonna do is strip

away this mist that's over your

eyes.

You, as a human being, you don't

really know what's going on.

You just see battle, but once I

strip away this mist, you're

gonna be able to see what's

really going on, which is that,

in addition to a battle going

on, there are gods fighting.

>> YOUNG: King Diomedes sees

that Ares‐‐ the god of war‐‐ is

fighting alongside his enemy

Hector, and he was not to use

this sight to attack the gods,

but that is exactly what he uses

it for.

>> COPPENS: The side aspect of

this is this: it's a question‐‐

did the gods really have this?

Were they superhuman like we

want to become, or did they have

technology which enabled them to

do these kind of things?

>> NARRATOR: Diomedes and the

gods' power of super eyesight

may seem like pure fantasy, but

enhanced vision is also becoming

a reality thanks to advancements

in spectrometer technology.

Spectrometers are devices used

to measure properties of light

over a wider range of the

electromagnetic spectrum than is

visible with the human eye, and

today, just as we are developing

cloaking devices, we are also

developing technology to see

through those devices.

>> SMITH: Technology is driven

by society's needs more than

anything else, but myths have a

way of inspiring us and they

represent a part of the

imagination which we need to

even envision the next

generation of technologies.

>> VON DANIKEN: If I dream I

could go to another galaxy, I

will sooner or later go to

another galaxy.

We are the offsprings of the

gods and all these things are in

our brains.

We think we are very powerful.

In practice we are not, but we

have technology to develop the

power because we are the sons of

the gods.

>> NARRATOR: Might technology be

our way of reconnecting with the

gods, or did the so‐called gods

deliberately deny us their

superpowers as a way of

motivating our imaginations and

technological achievements?

Perhaps further evidence can be

found in the heavens at a

Mexican ceremony that

commemorates real‐life close

encounters with alien visitors.

>> NARRATOR: Veracruz, Mexico.

Five men in ceremonial dress

ascend a 100‐foot pole.

Once at the top, one of the men

performs a sacred dance while

playing a flute and drum atop a

platform.

The other four men launch

themselves off.

It is a ritual known as La Danza

de los Voladores, or The Dance

of the Flyers.

>> YOUNG: The ritual has the

leader stand on the top of the

pole‐‐ a tiny little platform‐‐

and the four flyers wrap a cable

around that pole and then branch

out and fly around in a pyramid

shape in perfect synchronous

order.

It's a stunning and daring thing

to do.

They are representing the birds.

They are representing the four

cardinal directions.

They are representing the

elements.

Heavily symbolic and mythic, and

it is a powerful ritual.

>> NARRATOR: The Totanac people

who practice this ceremony today

claim it is a dance that was

invented 500 years ago as a plea

to the gods to end a severe

drought.

But could this ancient ritual

have different, perhaps

otherworldly origins?

>> TSOUKALOS: What we have here

with the Voladores is 100%

living mythology‐‐ something

that describes and illustrates

in front of our living eye the

descent of the gods from a long

time ago.

>> HENRY: The motif of the gods

descending from the sky is one

of the most ancient stories.

If you go back to the Old

Testament, you have the story of

the sons of God descending from

the sky, and they see the

daughters of men and they create

a race of giants.

In the Book of Genesis, Jacob

sees a ladder ascending into the

heavens with angels ascending

and descending upon this ladder.

Jesus, in the Book of John,

describes the heavens opening

and beings descending upon the

son of man.

>> NARRATOR: According to

ancient astronaut theorists, the

Voladores ritual is a

reenactment of a close encounter

with alien visitors in the

distant past.

They believe extraterrestrials

descended upon the flat

mountaintops of the Palpa region

in Peru around 500 A. D.,

dropping from their aircraft and

gliding down to Earth in

spiraling circles.

>> TSOUKALOS: The Voladores

ritual was very technological,

as in, you know, these beings

descending from the sky and the

circle signifying arrival of the

gods.

Where does that flying or

descending gods motif originate?

Our ancestors saw something

because why would you hurl

yourself from a hundred‐foot

pole out of nothing, to imitate

a bird?

Birds are not that important.

Something very significant

happened.

>> NARRATOR: Could an alien

encounter really be the

inspiration for the Voladores

ritual?

And could the Totanac people,

who created the ceremony, really

have been trying to mimic the

ancient gods' power of flight?

As further evidence that early

humans may have encountered

alien visitors equipped with the

power of flight...

ancient astronaut theorists

point to various artifacts

and statues depicting ancient

gods.

One such example is the Mayan

god, Ah‐Muzen‐Cab, also known as

the flying "Bee God."

Another is the most prominent

god of early Mesoamerican

culture‐‐ the winged deity

Quetzalcoatl.

>> LOGAN HAWKES: The

Mesoamericans believed in the

plumed serpent, or Quetzalcoatl,

which came from the sky,

bringing wisdom, power of the

wind, and also influenced

everything that happened in the

daily life of the Mayans.

In fact, they looked to the sky

for all their answers, from

everything as simple as when to

plant corn, to when to go to

war.

Uh, they believed all answers in

the universe came from the sky

and trying to relate that to

their daily lives.

>> HENRY: The ancient record are

loaded with fantastic examples

>> NARRATOR: July 31, 2003.

The English Channel.

Felix Baumgartner becomes the

first person to cross this

22‐mile wide body of water in

free fall using a specially made

fiber wing.

But the Austrian daredevil

is just one of many who have

used wingsuits to simulate

flying by means of a free fall.

>> ED PAWLOWSKI: A wingsuit

is basically a jumpsuit

that you put on under your rig

and it's designed to actually

make you fly when you exit the

plane.

The material inflates underneath

your arms, in between your legs,

and creates basically an airfoil

that you glide on through the

air.

It's an amazing feeling because

you're actually the pilot and

the plane.

It is total freedom.

You feel as though you're

flying.

Though you are falling, you're

using the air to maneuver your

body.

And the wingsuit helps you

cover a lot of ground as you're

descending.

Some people have been exceeding

two‐to‐one glide ratio.

For example, three‐to‐one would

mean for every foot you descend,

you're traveling three feet

forward.

>> TSOUKALOS: We got these

flying guys that have these

wings attached to their backs,

and they hurl themselves out of

planes, and some even have

rocket engines attached to them.

And so they essentially

themselves become airplanes.

Now imagine showing that to

someone from a hundred years

ago.

That person would be in complete

awe of what they are witnessing,

not understanding that there's

technology involved with this.

>> VON DANIKEN: Just using our

own body, we cannot fly.

We have no wings.

But, of course, we have the

fantasy and we have the

technology to develop wings that

we can fly.

>> TSOUKALOS: The pursuit of

flight has been one of the most

sought after quests in all of

mankind's history.

Why?

Because with flight you could

reach, conceivably, the realm of

the gods.

>> NARRATOR: From the ancient

Greek myth of Icarus, fashioning

wings of feathers and wax, to

modern daredevils, like Felix

Baumgartner, human beings have

been fascinated with, and often

frustrated by, their desire to

fly.

But have birds really served as

mankind's inspiration?

Or something else?

Perhaps something

extraterrestrial.

And if ancient visitors could

fly, what other powers might

they have possessed?

And what abilities might early

man have had and lost?

Perhaps the answer can be found,

not in the skies...

(thunder crashes)

...but deep beneath the sea.

>> NARRATOR: Cape Sounion,

Greece.

Perched on the headland,

surrounded on three sides by the

sea, lies the ruins of the

Temple of Poseidon, built in

440 BC.

The second son of the Titan King

Cronus, Poseidon was worshipped

throughout Greece almost as much

as his younger brother Zeus.

>> YOUNG: Poseidon was the god

of the sea.

He was also the god of

earthquakes and, strangely.

horses.

When Poseidon was in a good

mood, he created new lands out

of the sea.

He gave calm waters for good

voyages.

When he was in a bad mood, he

destroyed ships and brought

storms.

(thunder crashes)

>> RADER: Poseidon does rule

over the kingdom of the sea.

It is envisioned as a kind of

a place where people live.

And when he comes out of that

place, yes he rides the

spectacular kind of like water

chariot that is driven by

dolphins.

And he holds onto a really big

trident.

>> NARRATOR: In Greek mythology,

Cronus eats all of his children

except for Zeus, who eventually

rescues his siblings, including

Poseidon, from the belly of his

father.

>> YOUNG: A potion is prepared

that makes him heave up all the

other siblings of Zeus, and

these become the gods of

Olympus.

>> NARRATOR: But ancient

astronaut theorists believe this

Greek myth is actually a

metaphor for an extraterrestrial

event.

They believe the notion of gods

being vomited up from the belly

of their father actually

describes mutinous aliens being

expelled from the mother ship.

>> COPPENS: Any being which is

swallowed up into a living

creature will not be able to

survive for three days.

It will die from suffocation and

will begin to decay.

So what we have here is not a

creature, but something else.

It could've been an object,

which was clearly of a manmade

or extraterrestrial origin.

>> VON DANIKEN: A mutiny took

place.

Some of the extraterrestrials,

they had sex with wonderful

earthly females, womens.

They were not allowed to do

this.

So, one of these

extraterrestrials who were not

allowed to go back with the

mother spaceship had the name

of Poseidon.

Poseidon fell in love with the

beautiful human girl.

And he made her pregnant.

>> RADER: Poseidon is married,

all right.

He's got a child.

He's got some grandchildren,

right.

There's a whole caste of sea

nymphs as well.

All of them presumably, like,

live in this place.

>> YOUNG: Poseidon had the power

of the deep, the unseen place.

If you look out at the sea, you

see a surface, and you're aware

there's a whole world below

that, suggesting powers beyond

that which meet the eye.

>> NARRATOR: Among the mythical

creatures associated with

Poseidon are the Telchines‐‐ a

race of advanced fish children.

These human‐like beings could

live both in and out of water.

>> HENRY: They are masters of

technology and seem to match up

with the fish gods of ancient

Sumeria, who worked for Enki,

the great god of alchemy and

technology and smith craft.

>> RADER: The Telchines are also

kind of in the shadowy territory

of god, human, monster thing.

They're just these kind of

figures who are not gods, but

who are like human beings.

There's one story about the

Roman version of Zeus, Jupiter,

trying to destroy them.

Now we don't know whether they

are actually all destroyed.

But it's possibly because of

their relationship to magic.

>> NARRATOR: In Greek legend,

the Telchines were also

metallurgists.

They were said to have created

Poseidon's magical trident and

to have cast the first bronze

statues of the gods of Olympus.

And according to some

historians, the Telchines may

not have been creatures of myth,

but were beings who actually

existed.

>> RADER: There were people

called Telchines.

We do actually have evidence of

these beings.

They were actual ancient Greeks,

who had specific tasks and

trades, like metallurgy, like

smithing and so on.

So, you could see how it is that

a being like Telchines, that

these things could, in fact, not

just be these mythological

beings, but, like, actual

people.

So the way that we look at the

ancient Greeks and Romans would

have been the way that they

would have looked at the stories

that are being told about the

Iliad.

>> TSOULAKOS: We've got

the stories of the Telchine, and

they were able to survive

underwater for unlimited amounts

of time.

Now how is such a thing possible

unless you have access to some

type of technology?

An Israeli company is currently

developing a human artificial

gill system that allows humans

to take oxygen from surrounding

water without the need of oxygen

tanks.

You potentially can remain

underwater for unlimited amounts

of time.

All the technology that we are

discovering today is, in fact,

old news.

It's been around before.

>> NARRATOR: Could the ancient

Greek myths really be based on

actual events?

Were the Telchines early humans

enabled with god‐like abilities?

And were these powers really

misunderstood alien technology?

Perhaps the answers can be

found, not in the past, but in

the present.

As modern day advances in

science and technology give us,

perhaps, our greatest evidence

that we are not alone.

>> NARRATOR: The ability to fly,

to thrive underwater, and to

travel through space and explore

the universe.

At one time, these were all

believed to be impossible

notions.

Dismissed as mere science

fiction or myth.

But mankind's continued advances

in technology have made the word

"impossible" almost obsolete.

In our modern world, steroids

can help generate Herculean

muscles, titanium joints can

replace and even improve upon

our own natural ones.

And even prosthetic gills are

being developed, so human beings

can breathe underwater without

the use of air tanks.

Today, government contractors

like Raytheon‐Sarcos and

Lockheed Martin continue to

develop exoskeleton machines

for the U. S. military.

When worn, they can allow

soldiers to walk, run and lift

hundreds of pounds with

virtually no effort.

>> DIDIO: What makes

exoskeletons so cool is that,

it's an everyman thing.

Anybody can put one on, anybody

can be the hero.

You can take a person with any

sort of physical weaknesses, and

make them greater than the

person they're fighting.

>> GRESH: Exoskeletons would be

a prime example of something

coming out of comic books into

mainstream reality.

And in reality, exoskeletons are

becoming very popular with the

military.

A soldier can wear the Raytheon

exoskeleton, for example, and

lift 200 pounds.

>> NARRATOR: But while these

modern day super men may be

limited in their mobility, the

development of exoskeletons

represents an incredible

evolution in the relationship

between man and machine.

But did such incredible

technology exist before?

Perhaps in mankind's ancient

past?

>> TSOUKALOS: Now is it possible

that some type of exoskeleton

technology was used in the

remote past, for example, on the

Giza Plateau?

Imagine the operator of one of

those exoskeleton machines

coming out of that machine.

That person has superpowers,

even though the person doesn't

have any powers at all.

The person is only operating

sophisticated technology.

One could argue that with all

the advancements we are making

today in science and all the

other academic fields, we are

becoming more god‐like.

We are not becoming gods.

We are not turning into real

superheroes.

We are only becoming god‐like

because of our technology.

>> GRESH: I think we have innate

need to push our bodies and our

minds to the utmost limits and

strive for super intelligence,

super strength and other

superpowers.

The reason is that people have

long been fascinated with what

could be stronger than humanity

itself, and if it's not human,

then it must come from somewhere

else, either a god or an

extraterrestrial.

>> NARRATOR: But with all of his

scientific achievements, is

mankind perhaps making himself

more and more vulnerable to what

could be terrible consequences?

>> YOUNG: There are many tales

of ordinary mortals ascending to

become rulers, to become gods,

various positions of enormous

power.

Often, these characters then

become corrupt.

And the stories stick around and

are retold over a long period of

time, long after their sources

have withered away, to teach us

that power corrupts, to be

careful what you wish for, and

to be very cautious if ever

holding great power because of

its ability to harm.

>> DIDIO: Almost 50% of our

stories are about technology

run amuck, or the dark side of

technology, because when you

talk about superpowers, when you

talk about all this

transformation, everything comes

at a price.

And you always have to weigh

whether or not price is worthy,

or necessary to make, for the

greater good, and sometimes it's

not.

Sometimes, the price you pay is

just too great, when you lose

your own self.

>> NARRATOR: Are all of

mankind's scientific

achievements really examples of

emerging technology?

Or is the yearning for superpowers

and heroic feats embedded in our

collective DNA?

Are humans finally catching

up to the abilities of beings

who have been here before?

And were they gods?

Or, as some believe, alien

ancestors, living thousands of

years ago, but possessing powers

and abilities thousands of years

more advanced?

Perhaps only time and further

advancements in technology will

tell.

Or perhaps it will all be

revealed... when they return.

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